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Authors:Petra KuppersAbstract: In this short montage essay, I am sharing different student and teacher perspectives on a pedagogical exercise that allows us to relearn being in space. The exercise confounds conventional disability simulation exercises, imaging ourselves to be different than who we are, by substituting an experience of who we are already, perceived differently, with a more mindful attention.PubDate: 2015-05-20Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Carol Schilling, Teresa Blankmeyer BurkeAbstract: The syllabus for "Beyond Quality of Life: Exploring Disability and Bioethics" was designed for the Master of Bioethics program at the University of Pennsylvania. This first course on disability for the program conducted an inquiry into bioethical responses to human variations that become categorized as disability. The interdisciplinary project of disability studies provided a fresh theoretical and practical lens through which to view bioethics, its philosophical framework, and the library of cases concerning disability that are argued within that frame.

Authors:Amy VidaliAbstract: This assignment describes how students can "speak back" to problematic disability representations through writing open letters. A short introduction, reading list, and assignment are supplied.PubDate: 2015-05-20Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Hilary SelznickAbstract: In this article. I report on an IRB-approved auto-ethnographic study of a disability studies-themed rhetoric and compositon course that I designed and taught at a midsize Midwestern university. This study examines students multimodal life-writing compositions, "normal commonplace books (journals of students' encounteres with the assumptions--or commonplaces-- of normacy), and classroom discussion, asking: How do students' use normalizing discourses in relation to disability and other marginalized identity categories? And, how might educators pedagogically intervene in such discourses? Ultimately, I found that exploring "discourses of normalcy" might help educators access students' experiences with disability, and consequently, redress the hegemony of the norm. The study revealed that students were more likely to use normalizing discourses in their written responses rather than in class discussions. Similarly, the instructor intervened in these problematic discourses in written feedback rather than verbally in classroom exchanges. The study also proved that after exposure to critical disability studies, students were more willing to discuss other social issues relating to race, sexuality, religion, and class. In keeping with the aims of the special issue, the results of this study suggest one way to teach disability studies content to a variety of audiences, and details an approach used by a teacher-researcher to study a DS classroom.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:John Derby, Valerie KarrAbstract: In this manuscript, we discuss research findings from a collaborative visual arts curricular unit on ableism, which we implemented in non-Disability Studies undergraduate courses at two universities during the 2012-2013 academic year. Our project builds on previous research in which we (Derby, 2015, in press; Karr & Weida, 2013) began adding Disability Studies arts pedagogy to our undergraduate coursework. For this project, we developed a shared unit, which we implemented in a general freshman seminar course, an introductory art teaching methods course, and an upper level art education course on applied technology. Utilizing a pedagogy of transformation, we engaged students with shared resources, including lectures, readings, and videos on Disability Studies and ableism; the project culminated with each student producing and exhibiting both an artwork and an artist's statement. After reviewing the literature and describing the project and research methods, we provide a nuanced discussion of the data, especially the artwork. The data indicate that our students, who were previously unexposed to ableism, conceptualized ableism at least on an elementary level, with many students demonstrating advanced conceptualization of ableism in one or more of three categories. Our findings suggest that integrating Disability Studies into non-Disability Studies curricula on a small scale can be useful, but that results are limited by the complexities of disability. The success of the project indicates that incorporating Disability Studies into standard curricula through a pedagogy of transformation can reach typical college students who are unfamiliar with Disability Studies concepts.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Anastasia Ioanna Kayiatos, Joan OstroveAbstract: In the Fall of 2013 we team-taught a disability studies course for a small group of first-year students. The course, Minding the Body, integrated scholarship from disability studies, feminist/queer studies, psychology, and Russian Studies. Originally envisioned and taught independently in the Fall of 2012 by Joan Ostrove and focused entirely on the U.S., Anastasia Kayiatos's arrival in the Department of German and Russian Studies at Macalester College afforded us an opportunity for collaboration and co-instruction that we found invigorating, compelling, and transformative. Grounded from the outset in disability studies, the course asked students to interrogate such questions as: What is a "normal" body? A "beautiful" body? Why do we feel the way we do about our bodies? How are bodies objectified, exploited, and regulated? How and why do we discriminate against people with non-normative bodies? How do people represent the experience of having a disabled body? How can we think critically about the various ways in which people change, regulate, and enhance their bodies? How do sexism, racism, classism, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of oppression influence how different bodies are viewed, treated, educated, and experienced? The integration of Russian Studies importantly allowed us to ask how these questions and ideas change when we travel across time and geographical space. In our paper we will reflect on our experience of co-authoring the syllabus (we will include both the solo-taught and co-taught versions of the syllabus in an appendix); outline some of our techniques for team-teaching; and analyze an exemplary assignment and class meeting. We will conclude with a final word about the unique forms of teaching and learning that happened in our class as a consequence of its collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, which opened up new perspectives in disability studies not only for our students but also for us.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Anat Greenstein, Craig Blyth, Christopher Blunt, Clarence Eardley, Louise Frost, Richard Hughes, Barbara Perry, Louise TownsonAbstract: This paper details the work of a group of learning disabled people (people with intellectual disabilities) who contribute to the teaching of students undertaking a degree program at one of the UK's most elite universities. Traditional notions relating to knowledge production within academia are examined and we demonstrate how the participation of learning disabled people in classroom teaching challenges these. Drawing on the work of Freire (1972) the paper demonstrates how co-teaching by learning disabled people has a transformative impact on educational experiences. Finally, the current changes impacting the UK higher education sector are detailed and we explore how these changes are negatively impacting on courses that seek to move away from traditional approaches to pedagogy.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Angela M. CarterAbstract: Recently, a heated debate has risen in Academia following numerous student initiatives petitions for the formal incorporation of rigger warnings in course syllabi. When contextualized within the intersecting politics of disability and feminist pedagogies, a number of fundamental contentions within this debate become apparent. First, grave misunderstandings remain regarding about practices of accommodation and the possibility of establishing the classroom as a “safe space.” Second, resistance within the academy to understand trauma as a pedagogical issue illustrate a failure to consider experiences of and responses to trauma as issues of disability (in)justice. Through an exploration of these issues, it becomes evident that the conflicting approaches to trauma in the classroom demand the more integrated, collaborative praxis of a “Feminist Disability Studies Pedagogy” (FDSP). When approached through this hybrid pedagogy, the conversation shifts from whether we should use trigger warnings, to why trauma itself is an imperative social justice issue within our classrooms.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Jay DolmageAbstract: Beginning with a series of possible ways to introduce an essay on Universal Design for Learning, this contribution instead resolves to offer a long listing or inventory of different places to start implementing Universal Design in classroom settings. The goal is to reframe Universal Design away from checklists and reductive formulas and towards more critical, problematized and active forms of engagement or "ways to move." The long archive is also offered through a linked Wiki which provides a place to add ideas, respond to those already offered, and suggest ways that access needs might collide.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Georgina Kleege, Scott WallinAbstract: Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are blind or have low vision. Typically such description has focused on films, museum exhibitions, images and video on the internet, and live theater. Because it allows people with visual impairments to experience a variety of cultural and educational texts that would otherwise be inaccessible, audio description is a mandated aspect of disability inclusion, although it remains markedly underdeveloped and underutilized in our classrooms and in society in general. Along with increasing awareness of disability, audio description pushes students to practice close reading of visual material, deepen their analysis, and engage in critical discussions around the methodology, standards and values, language, and role of interpretation in a variety of academic disciplines. We outline a few pedagogical interventions that can be customized to different contexts to develop students' writing and critical thinking skills through guided description of visual material.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Jane Dunhamn, Jerome Harris, Shancia Jarrett, Leroy Moore, Akemi Nishida, Margaret Price, Britney Robinson, Sami SchalkAbstract: This collection of writing has grown from the work of the National Black Disability Coalition, led by Jane Dunhamn and Leroy Moore. The Coalition met on June 7, 2013, in the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, New Jersey to discuss the future of Black Disability Studies (BDS). Since that time, members of the Coalition have written an outline for a BDS course, presented at conferences, and developed strategies to incorporate BDS into the disciplines of Black Studies and Disability Studies. We have also reflected deeply on what the introduction of BDS will mean, both for Black Studies and for disability studies.Our writings in this collection are intended to mark the work of the National Black Disability Coalition thus far, but also to provide a platform from which further work in BDS can grow. By underscoring the development and potential of BDS, this article articulates the need for BDS within mainstream disability studies, and advocates for BDS not to be taken as a marginalized special-topic course, but rather to be engaged in every and at the heart of Disability Studies courses and pedagogies. Although we believe that BDS should be integrated into every Disability Studies course, we recognize that, like disability itself, it cannot simply be “added and stirred”; rather, the inclusion of BDS is a paradigm-shifting change. The pieces included in this collection are enactments of an ongoing conversation--a conversation that we hope the readers of Disability Studies Quarterly will join thoughtfully. The sections comprise statements from the leaders of the National Black Disability Coalition, Jane Dunhamn and Leroy Moore; reflective writings from three instructors and two students of Black Disability Studies; and a copy of the course outline.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)

Authors:Elizabeth J. DonaldsonAbstract: This essay focuses on specific teaching assignments, strategies, and resources designed to help undergraduate students think critically about key concepts in bioethics—such as autonomy, paternalism, informed consent, and competency—using examples and case studies involving people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The assignments described below are disability-rights inspired interventions into the students' career-focused mindsets and training; one of my main strategies is social decentering, or having students examine a situation from a variety of theoretical and subjective perspectives. Exposing students to online talks by people diagnosed with schizophrenia and similar primary sources helps those students without first-hand experience to better understand these different points of view. While these assignments are primarily geared toward bioethics classes, they include resources and ideas for class activities that might be useful in other courses within disability studies, mad studies, psychiatry, literature, or film.PubDate: 2015-05-19Issue No:Vol. 35 (2015)